In the beginning of this month, our team traveled by bus for 8 hours from to Seim Reap to Bangkok and while I had to cross the border, I had to wait in line for 4 hours in an intense amount of heat. While I was was in the long line, there were moments that I was saying things like, “I don’t want to pass out, I can make it through the boarding to Thailand.” Then as I made it up to the front I was relieved that we had a little bit of a breeze behind me and I started feeling a lot better. I also knew that I was going to be at a 4 day debrief time in Bangkok, Thailand later on that day, so it made me excited as well. It was going to be a time where I got to see the rest of the group and get to truly connect with them about their time in Cambodia. I knew that it would be an amazing time of truly just listening to the Lord and I was ready to be a part of it.
I also was excited to be able to see some of the leadership team, Kylee (squad mentor), Reece (Squad Leader), and Kate (Squad Leader), because I was excited to share with them how well our group was getting along with each other. I knew that it would be good to share with them all of our experiences in Cambodia and I was ready to show them all of the things that God did while my team was there. I knew that the time with them was going to be really encouraging and helpful and I’m glad I could have had that time with them.
Then after thinking of all of the good, exciting things I then remembered that the pollution levels were supposed to be so bad that you had to wear masks all the time with maybe even two of the at once. It also was supposed to be a time where we couldn’t be in the main city and we have had to get our hostel outside of the it. However, that wasn’t true at all for our group because we prayed that God would help clear up the air and allow us to walk and it would be good weather. To all of our amazement, we realized the first day we got there that the pollution levels were actually very good and that people could actually breathe without coughing. It truly felt like a miraculous thing and I’m so glad that God was able to help our group out that way. It is so amazing that God is this good to us, isn’t it.
Now I’ll share with you about what different kind of hostels and places that we lived in while I was in Bangkok with the groups. On the first day I was there, we arrived to Bangkok and my team and another team in our group had a hostel that was an interesting one. It was one that wasn’t that comfortable and and example of this is when I would climb into my bed on the top bunk of the bunk bed, it would squeak and it pretty much woke the guy in the bed underneath me awake. I also thought to myself as I was there “If I stay here for a long period of time, it wouldn’t be good for me and I wouldn’t like my experience in Bangkok.” However, the people there were extremely nice, but when we went to check out the guy was pretty late to help us out. I can definitely say that it was an experience.
The next night the two teams in that hostel moved to another hostel called Dinspace. That hostel was filled with some extremely nice people and our logistics team actually arranged it so that we could have all of the rooms for our whole group in that hostel, which was awesome. It was also a hostel that was good for helping people with ordering food and it was pretty good. They also had a roof that they allowed us to use, which had the bathrooms and we got to do our worship there and the leaders were able to speak there, which was awesome. It was also near a coffee shop called Kups coffee, which was near a 7 eleven store and we got to talk have a one on one with Kylee, which was cool too. I must say that I would definitely stay there again.
Then there was one day our leadership team had for us towards the end of our debrief time in Bangkok where every team had an opportunity to figure out what they felt God was saying next. They would say to us, “What is God saying is next for your team?”. That was a time when I was sometimes thinking something and saying things like “Oh I feel like God is calling me here because I feel like it’s where he’s wanting us to go.” Then I would just be so sure that it was the place that God wanted us to go and sometimes I didn’t realize that my whole team needed to “Let God lead and that the four of us needed to pray and ask God to seek His heart.”
Then a few minutes later we prayed it together and we all knew that we were supposed to go to an area that had a farm and was near a rice field with some awesome people in a village area and that we wouldn’t know anything after that. It would be an unexpected journey and it was to be “Unscripted”. We all felt that it was going to be amazing as well.
So as we kept talking together eventually, Tanner eventually saw this place that he felt we should look at, so we looked at it. That is when Matt looked at it and checked out an Air BnB for it and we all felt in our spirits that that place was the place to go to for sure and I was glad to see the unity in our decision that we made together. Then even later that afternoon we found out the Reece was going to be joining us there and everyone was excited for him to be apart of our team. I knew that he was going to provide us wisdom from his World Race experience, so I was happy to journey with him.
Then we told Kylee that we were going to be there and left the next day. Then we went to the Air BnB and found out that the host of the house is a Christian woman who speaks really good English. We also got to see that she was so passionate about the Bible and even so that she even joined us in a Bible study, which my whole team loved. It was at that moment that all of us knew that God had already set the time up for us to meet Sarisa and her son, Joshua who was an awesome guy and whose almost 3 years old. They are both really amazing!
I’ll end it by mentioning the last person we met whose a man who name is Nick. Nick is a guy who randomly waved his hands to us as we were walking thinking about eating for like, “Man I could really use some food right now because I don’t see anything nearby.” That is when he said, “I will help you out and you can come and sit here and I’ll have someone bring you some.” Then we all thought “Okay we should get to know who he is, so we can just have a meal with him.” That is when I found out that he lived in Michigan for about 16 years as a mechanic, which I thought was really cool. He also then mentioned about how his daughter lives in Detroit, and it surprised me a lot. The reason I say that is because last year I lived in Detroit for 6 months and I didn’t think I would meet someone who has ever lived in Detroit in Thailand so it was great to me. He also offered us to visit him again, and so I hope to do that soon and I’m excited for that ministry time with him. God is going to move in that time.
